All Blog Posts Tagged 'home' (58)

In years past, the idea of the “passive house” was only a dream. In concept form, the passive house was one that minimized energy losses and operated at maximum energy efficiency. The result would be a home with little to no monthly energy expenses and a fraction of the environmental impact of most homes. Amazingly, the passive house is no longer just a dream; in fact, it’s become a reality. Several companies are able to build passive homes for everyday consumers, creating a huge shift in…

Illinois Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (IHP) is currently sponsoring a building science training series. The most recent training took place in Normal, Illinois at Heartland Community College on Infrared technologies such as infrared cameras and images used to detect problem areas in buildings. Brian Kumer, owner of Thermal Imaging Services, was the instructor for this 8-hour course which consisted of both a classroom portion and a field portion.…

iPhone to Home: It's All About Communication and Home Automation.

Right now, it's more of a joke than a reality. For some reason, even with an iPhone or Tablet in our hands, we fail to realize the fact that someday, in the near future, we will all be living in a Smart Home. Yes, for a while, it will probably be like coming to terms with our first…

FIDO Says, "I will show you where to save energy."

I have been spreading the news about a home energy monitoring system called FIDO by EcoDog Energy Monitoring. This is part three of a three article series. You may be interested in backtracking a little and checking out part one, 13 strong points to …

There's one thing that keeps me from my favorite fast-food indulgence, the Junior Whopper with Cheese. It's called the Happy Meal. My kids insist on them. And our meals are indeed happier if I forgo my trip to Burger King so we can snag Happy Meals at McDonald's instead.

How does this relate to Home Performance?

A big focus among home performance professionals at the moment is driving demand. To do that…

Tamasin Sterner, Founder, President, and Chief Coach of Pure Energy was given the Tony Woods Award for Excellence in Advancing the Home Performance Industry at the opening plenary of the ACI National Conference in San Francisco on March 30, 2011. Tamasin has been advancing home performance through mentoring, teaching, consulting work, and building analysis for almost 30 years and is a regular Home Energy contributer. "I had to prove that I can do everything that men can do—and more", she says,… Continue

Thinking of convincing the homeowner that you are the right contractor for the window replacement project? Make sure that you are prepared to demonstrate that you have the knowledge to evaluate the problem correctly. The customer wants and expects to perceive this quickly or you will not be selected for the follow-up. So, to ensure your business is the one selected for that coveted follow-up session, it is critical to showcase your knowledge and experience, the two fundamental factors that say… Continue

The energy efficiency movement is starting to impact the awareness of how the indoor conditions of an existing building can be greatly improved. Homeowners who once dread the winter months and thought that they had to live with the pain of a drafty uncomfortable home are now increasingly seeking to improve these homes.

This search often brought homeowners out into the marketplace looking for solutions and the best professional help. As a result, we are…

Recently I was talking to one of our HERS raters who said that one of the reasons he prefers going after the existing home market is that he’s more comfortable talking with homeowners than with builders. He’s afraid that builders will see his lack of construction knowledge and send him packing.

What can you do to overcome this fear? Take heed of these points, and you’ll be fine:

Trying to demonstrate to the unknowing that enhanced home energy performance translates into enhanced resale value is not an easy task. But actually it is right there in the HERS Rating!?

Even though most of us 'energy pros' understand that the increased comfort, health, durability, and lower energy bills means that the property should be more desirable and more valuable, it is hard to get this going due to the true way that properties are valued.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) puts a great deal of focus and concern into the area of weatherization. An abundant amount of recovery act funding went towards weatherization and in return the reduction of energy consumption. In an attempt to make the auditing and assessing aspect of weatherization readily available and understood by both experts and consumers alike the DOE has created the Home Energy Scoring Tool.

It is commonly known that heat rises, if you need an example, open your freezer and see where the cold air goes. This same principle applies to hot air balloons; the hot air causes the balloon to rise. Many home performance professionals understand what this means for a home in the winter. Unfortunately, the average consumer may not understand how important this concept is. On average 60% of heat escapes through the roof of a house, attic or roof insulation can go a long way in reducing…

There is a hot and heavy dialogue taking place in an online group that I belong to, made up mostly of people who are in the business of auditing homes and then making homes more energy efficient, healthy, and comfortable. The main gist of the discussion is, Do we rely on the government to encourage people to make their homes more efficient, or is it up to the market? Does this sound familiar? Tune into any election debate in the…

Two weeks ago I was in Charleston, South Carolina for a meeting of the National Association of State Community Services Programs (NASCSP). Last week I stopped by West Coast Green taking place at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. NASCSP is a group of state managers for the Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) for low-income families. West Coast Green is an interactive conference focusing on innovation for the built environment. From crawlspaces to sheep’s wool… Continue